Altered Flight
by FluxBlade
Summary: Jaune's launch at initiation goes a bit awry, leading him to a different partner, and different challenges for the new hunters and huntress-in-training. Hopefully they can survive it.
1. Flight Interrupted

A/N: Whelp, it's my first story for RWBY. Was inspired by Zatroopa's Rearranging the Board, which is an awesome fic that I would heartily recommend you read.

I do not own RWBY, which is probably a good thing. Since I cannot animate to save my life.

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Most people when thinking back on their lives, would not think that how they positioned their arms would be a major changing point in their lives. Even the young man himself would not realize that how he was flailing his arms about would in fact change his life. Well, besides maybe keeping himself alive, that is. The main thought that was going through his mind was more, how he was going to land in one piece? Fortunately for him, his fall was abruptly halted by a large gold spear pinning him to a tree. The tree he was pinned to was nothing special, the only significance it had was it was a bit closer to the hill that they started on then where he could have ended up being pinned. As the young man struggled and failed to pull the spear out, his attempts were interrupted by rustling of plants. Bursting out of the bushes was a young girl wearing a bright red cape.

"Jaune!" The young girl exclaimed as he looked over and smiled.

"Ruby." While it was not Snow Angel, at least it was a friend, he thought. "I guess that makes us partners then."

"I guess so," she smiles back as she fiddles with her cloak.

"Could you please help me get down?" Jaune asked as he continued his pulling on the spear.

"Oh, I am so sorry." Ruby, mortified, jumped up onto a nearby branch and yanked it out. Jaune fell and landed with a grunt, though at least he was standing on solid ground. Ruby inspected the spear and started to 'oh' and 'ah' over it as it transformed into a rifle. Which she promptly aimed a nearby tree and pretended to fire. Jaune smiled at her joy, though he did wish his sword and shield could do more than just shrink.

"Great, not only are you the youngest child to sneak into beacon, but now you are a thief!" Both Jaune and Ruby jumped before staring at a young woman in a white dress with silver hair in a ponytail to her right side. Jaune started to relax as he realized that his secret had not been discovered yet.

"I didn't steal this, I'm just looking at it until the owner comes back for it." Ruby defended while glaring, "besides what is your problem?"

"She's right, Pyrrha threw it to help me out." Jaune interjected as he tries to keep his new partner and crush from fighting. Weiss looked down and sighed before glancing back at Ruby.

"If that is true, then I am sorry." Weiss then smiled as she looked at the spear. "I guess I can wait here and see if Pyrrha needs a partner." All three glanced around as a minute later, the owner of said spear, a young woman with a long red ponytail in gold armor, pushed through the bushes.

"Jaune, I'm glad to see you are alright." She smiled as Jaune scratched the back of head. Ruby jumped down while holding the spear tightly.

"Pyrrha, thanks for the help." Jaune responded back as Ruby walked over and held up the spear.

"Your weapon is so completely awesome. I especially liked how it has three forms. I hope you don't mind that I checked it out?" She rapidly fired off.

"That is fine, no harm has done, and I do not think we have met, I am Pyrrha, nice to meet you."

"Ruby." The two shook hands before Pyrrha took her weapon back. Weiss walked over and cleared her throat.

"Pyrrha, do you have a teammate, yet?" She questioned as Pyrrha shook her head. "Well, I would appreciate it if we could be, as both of them are partners." Pyrrha nodded as something momentarily flashed on her face that Jaune did not recognize before she smiled.

"That would be grand." Weiss grinned as she had to physically restrain herself from shouting to the world the great news for herself. She could just see it. First, they would be the most popular girls at the school, their team will be breaking all of the important records at school. She would show her father wrong and get him to change the company so that is well-loved as well as powerful. They would get the White Fang fiends to surrender and submit to justice after being taken down. It was going to be perfect. Oh, lastly, meet a handsome, intellectual, transfer student that would help out as well.

Jaune stared at Weiss, who looked as those she just found out today was Waffle Day. Pyrrha then turned to the other two. "Why don't we look for the relics together?"

"Really?" Ruby squeaked out as Jaune grinned.

"That's a great idea, thanks Pyrrha."

"That would be acceptable," Weiss grudgingly agreed to, turning to Ruby, she stuck her hand out. "We may not have started on the right foot, let's start over, Ruby." Ruby grinned before enthusiastically shaking her hand. After finishing, she turned to Jaune and spoke, "I'm still not sure what I think about you." He sighed as the group started to walk toward where they thought headmaster had told them the relics should be.

"Does anyone have an idea on what the relics are supposed to be?" Ruby questioned as she kept her gaze forward.

"It would have to be something we can carry, since we will have to return them. " Pyrrha explained.

"So when we get there Pyrrha, why don't I carry it?" Weiss suggested. "After all, you are the strongest fighter of our year." Jaune stared at the redhead in front of him. The fact that Weiss said this so assured meant those tournaments must have been difficult. This could be a great team, after all, the headmaster had said that teams would be formed today, and though it could be only two people, the way the headmaster said it, implied that the teams would be larger. Otherwise, why didn't he just say partner versus teammate?

So distracted by this thought, Jaune was unable to dodge the branch that whip-lashed back and caught him on the face.

"I am sorry." Pyrrha stared at his face before frowning as Jaune grinned sheepishly. "Why didn't you use your aura?"

"Gesundheit." Jaune responded as the other three just blinked and stared.

"Jaune, you do know what aura is right?" Pyrrha asked as Weiss questioned,

"Wait, you actually got into Beacon without having your aura, without even knowing anything about it?"

"Of course I know about it. Do you know what aura is?" He attempted to evade the question.

"Do you think I would ask you if I did?" She glared as he took a couple of steps back. Pyrrha walked over and put a hand on Weiss's shoulder.

"Aura is-"

"The power from our souls that gives us the strength to fight Grimm, not only does it make our attacks stronger, it creates a defensive shield that protects and heals us." Ruby interrupted with a stare at Weiss who raised an eyebrow at that. Ruby tapped her cheek before continuing, "Oh yeah, it also can be channeled through your semblance, mine is super speed."

"That is a good basic explanation of aura." Weiss hedged as Jaune nodded while Ruby sighed.

"Close your eyes," Pyrrha ordered as Jaune did so as she placed a hand on his cheek. "For it is in passing that we achieve immortality, through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee." Finishing, she let go as she leaned over while breathing heavily.

"Thank you." Jaune smiled as the cut on his face vanished.

"Pyrrha, you know you could have let Ruby unlocked his aura and saved yours."

"Well, we are traveling together for now, and I will be fine in a few moments." She smiled as she stood straight. "Shall we?" The two pairs continued on towards the temple to find the relics. The journey was quiet as Jaune did not want to have anything else come up that would make him look even more stupid, Pyrrha was keeping her eyes out for Grimm, while Ruby felt self-conscious, especially with other incidents with Weiss, and lastly Weiss was dreaming away at how successful she and Pyrrha were going to be, proving herself to her family.

This quiet travel was interrupted as Pyrrha halted and raised a hand as the rest of the group quickly drew their weapons. The silence was broken by a howl erupting from the bushes in front as a couple of Beowolves jumped out. Ruby stepped in front of the group with Crescent Rose in scythe form.

"Hey, Ruby, why don't you use the sniper rifle mode for now? That way you don't run into an ambush in case more are hiding." Jaune suggested as she turned back to look at her teammate.

"I'll help as well." Pyrrha offered as she transformed Milo, from a spear into a rifle.

"Also, could you and Weiss watch our back just in case?" Ruby requested as she leveled her now sniper rifle as she joined in at unloading fire at the visible Beowolves. Weiss stepped into her proper stance as she remarked to Jaune.

"I guess you do have a decent thought in that head of yours, occasionally."

"See, brains and beauty, who could resist?" He beams at her as she shakes her head.

"Everyone." Anything else she would have said was interrupted as the two Beowolves are joined by eight more. The pack started to charge in, all at once. Activating the dust in her rapier, the white-haired girl launched a blast of fire at the nearest beowolf, connecting and causing it to yelp in pain. Jaune raised his sword and using his shield to block the incoming swing, slashed off the head of another Grimm. Turning, he blocked another strike before Weiss skewered the creature in the head. Turning to face the last remaining Beowolf, Jaune was able to overwhelm it with multiple slashes as it dropped dead.

"Jaune, Weiss, are you two okay?" Ruby asked she finished her targets as the battle ended, the others disposed of by either bullets, slashes, and in one case, pinned to a tree before being roundhouse-kicked to death.

"That was easy." Jaune spoke as he wiped off the blood on Crocea Mors.

"Of course, they were just Beowolves, only a complete novice would have problems with that." Weiss explained as she walked over to Pyrrha, who was retrieving her weapon. "Do you sense anything else out there?"

"No, we should be fine for now." Weiss smiled at the information as she glanced over to the 'dork brigade' as she mentally dubbed them.

"There's nothing else here, we should continue on."

The group continued on in the forest, as the only sound they heard was muffled sound of gunfire in the distance, but they were unable to find any other potential students. The silence the group fell into continued on until they reached a cave as Jaune walked up to it and exclaimed, "this could be the temple!"

"Hey, we might need a torch if there is no light in there." Ruby remarked as she rushed over to find a large of enough stick, with her partner following right behind. Weiss stared at the two before complaining to Pyrrha,

"They're acting like children."

"I think they are just being eager is all." The redhead responded as she turned back to her partner who sighed.

"Even a kind word for the troublemakers, you must have all the boys lining up to be with you." Weiss complimented as Pyrrha shrugged and looked away. "Sorry, you probably have to deal with too many sycophants to make that a good thing. I understand, it seems that the only boys who talk to me care about is my family name." Looking over at the entrance to the possible temple, her eyes are drawn to a picture next to it, showing multiple people dying to a giant scorpion. The rustling of bushes announced the return of the 'dork brigade,' carrying their hastily made torch.

"We've got the torch ready to go." Jaune beamed as Ruby nodded behind him.

"I think this isn't the temple. Look at the drawing there, I think this might be a Deathstalker's lair." Weiss explained as Ruby's eyes went wide.

"Would they expect us to fight one? The headmaster did say to destroy everything in our way."

"Ruby, isn't that Deathstalker in the picture really big?" Jaune wondered as he examined the drawing. "Perhaps we've gone too far." Weiss frowned as Jaune waved his hands in defense to ward off a glare.

"That might be true, what do you think, Pyrrha?" Weiss asked as she turned to see Pyrrha watching the sky. "What's wrong, is something up there?" Weiss's gaze followed suit as she grimaced.

"Everyone move." Pyrrha ordered as all four of them rushed back into the trees as their former positions become skewered with giant black feathers.

"That's a giant Grimm." Jaune commented as the airborne giant started to fly toward the group. While continuing to run into the forest, both Pyrrha and Ruby took aim and fired at it, the resulting attacks doing nothing more than plinking against its body.

"We could use the Nevermore to figure out where we need to go, and we will be close enough that we might be able to take it down." Ruby suggested as Jaune blanched.

"I'm not going to make the landing if we do that." Jaune responded as they scattered from the razor feathers stabbing into the ground. "Also, I'm not going to be able to hit it unless we can force it closer." Pyrrha glanced at the flying creature before turning back to the group,

"Weiss, Ruby and I could get onto the Nevermore and use it to find where the temple is, if you stay down here with Jaune you can make sure that if one of us falls you can help with your glyphs."

"I could do that." Weiss hedged as the Grimm flew back at the group. "Will you need a boost?"

"That would be helpful yes." Pyrrha took a few steps back as Ruby climbed a nearby tree. The flying Grimm started to dive-bomb the tree as Weiss created a black glyph under Pyrrha's feet. "Now." On Pyrrha's command, Weiss launched her into the air as Ruby jumped as well. The Grimm was a bit surprised as the two grabbed onto feathers on its back as Weiss and Jaune dived away. Upon ensuring that Ruby had grabbed on and would not fall, Pyrrha started to scan the area for the temple. Fortunately for the two, the Nevermore ignored Weiss and Jaune, who followed behind, barely keeping up. It seemed that its target was Ruby, though Pyrrha could not understand why it would target her compatriot.

"I think I see Yang, we need to jump." Ruby declared as Pyrrha looked up to see that Ruby had vacated her position on the Nevermore. Sighing, Pyrrha let go as she angled herself to grab Ruby as the girl was attempting to slow her fall. At least she was more successful than Jaune had been at aiming her rash fall. Upon reaching her, Pyrrha slipped an arm around her waist and started to aim them both towards a tree branch, using the recoil from her rifle to push them in the direction. It was not moving them much but they only need a slight course correction. "Good, you heard me." Ruby smirked as Pyrrha pointed at one of the taller trees they were going to pass on their fall.

"Ruby, I need you to use your scythe to latch onto that tree we are aiming for."

"Right." Ruby grinned and transformed Crescent Rose into its scythe mode. And once in reach, she hooked around the top branch as they flipped over and landed on their feet.

"Ruby!" At the voice Ruby turned around to hug her sister as she exclaimed,

"Yang!" Before the two could hug, a young woman with orange hair jumped in between the two and shouted,

"Nora!" causing the siblings to recoil in surprise. Ignoring the surprise she smiled at both of them before drifting off to stand next to a young man with black hair, accented with a pink strand.

"Great, the gang is all here, now we can die together." Yang commented with a thumbs-up as Ruby rolled her eyes.

"Actually, we just need the relics, right? We could just take them and head back to the cliff."

Blake commented.

"Run away and live another day, I can get behind that." Jaune replied before joining Weiss in using a tree to stay standing while breathing heavily. Pyrrha and Ruby walked over to the temple and picked up two of the relics, one rook and one knight, respectively.

"Let's go." The group of eight started to run back to the overlook where they had been launched this morning. Jaune found himself running in the middle of the pack as Pyrrha and Nora, surprisingly took the rear, scanning the sky for the giant Nevermore. It was following, but was unable to position itself to launch its deadly feathers with deadly precision at the group as they used the forest as cover. They continued this path successfully until they came across a giant stone building, the last major obstacle before the hill. They started across its pathway when the giant Grimm dived at the group as Ruby, Yang, and Weiss sprinted forward, while Blake transformed Gambit Shroud and whipped it out so that she could swing away to safety. The last four backpedaled and watched as the Nevermore separated the two groups by ramming through and destroying part of the path. Jaune glared at the Grimm, while the three next to him took aim with their weapons and attempted to kill it. While Nora's blast did show visible signs of at least annoying the beast, both of Pyrrha's and Ren's attempts seemed to do nothing more than poke it. Jaune was in an even worse spot as his sword could not transform. Fortunately, for him, Ruby seemed to have a plan as all he could do was watch and hope that it worked.

Upon decapitating the giant Grimm and standing heroically on a cliff's edge, Jaune smiled at his teammate, someday, that would be him. Fortunately for the group, the three stranded members of the group were able to use Weiss gravity glyphs to jump back across the ravine.

"Well, that was a thing," Yang commented with a grin as Weiss continued to huff from her lack of breath.

"That was excellently executed," Pyrrha commented as Weiss stood straight while attempting to preen.

"That was so awesome, Ren we so got to work on that so I can run up a cliff ledge," Nora exclaimed as her partner nodded.

"Perhaps Weiss may be able to help," he suggested as Nora turned and bombarded her with questions as she took a few steps back in surprise.

The group eventually made it to the top of cliff as Ruby rushed over, the earlier battles seemingly doing nothing to her enthusiasm. While feeling like he did not do enough, beside help with the beowolves, his partner had been impressive. "Ruby, you were the bee's knees there." It had been his youngest sister's favorite compliment so it had to be a winner now. Ruby eyes widened as she stared at him as she "whaaaa" before slowly looking at her sister, who was grinning with two thumbs up.

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Whelp, no Deathstalker as someone notices the picture, so a much easier fight than in canon. Of course, now the teams are going to be different and the butterflies are going to be flapping their wings. Let me know what you think, especially the fight scenes. Thank you for reading.


	2. Teams and Learning

A/N: Shocking, I updated about a week later, please don't get used to this, I cheated with this one. I already had the second chapter done before posting the first. So in this chapter the teams start to official form and start to see some variation from canon. Also any bad jokes you are reminded of with a particular name has been already noticed and done by better authors than I.

In case it was not obvious, I do not own RWBY. Otherwise, everyone would have been left handed, except the bad guys...

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Ruby stared at her sister as they walked back into the auditorium, sure as can be that Yang had gotten to Jaune somehow. Why else would he use such a weird phrase? Though she guessed it was a good thing, as her partner did not seem to have a mean bone in his body. Also, now they would officially be teamed up, which would be great. Jaune smiled sheepishly at her while rubbing the back of his head. Upon reaching the front of the line, they turned to face the headmaster, who had just finished announcing team CRDL.

"Blake Belladona. Jaune Arc. Ruby Rose. Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RABY (Raspberry). Led by… Ruby Rose." Yang swooped in and crushed Ruby in a hug as Jaune cheered for his new partner. They exited the stage as their other compatriots walked up.

"Lie Ren. Nora Valkyrie. Pyrrha Nikos. Weiss Schnee. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team PRWN (Periwinkle)." Nora grabbed Ren for a hug as Ozpin continued, "Led by… Pyrrha Nikos." The young woman in question stood completely still.

"Of course you would be the leader." Weiss agreed before beaming at her.

"Thank you, sir." Ozpin nodded as she turned to face her teammates as they walked off the stage.

"Well, that was a thing." Yang commented.

"As team leader, my first command will be, to find the cafeteria and procure some cookies!" Ruby declared as Yang rolled her eyes as Jaune chuckled. Upon hearing Ruby, Nora bounced in front of Pyrrha with puppy dog eyes as she asked,

"Can we go to the cafeteria and eat some cookies?" Weiss flinched back from the view as Pyrrha nodded.

"Race you, Ren," and without waiting for a response, she shot off as Weiss glanced at Ren, who grinned at his partner disappearing in the distance.

"Is she always like this?" Weiss questioned.

"Eventually she does sleep." He replied as Weiss grimaced. "You get used to it."

"Though why are we giving her sugar?"

"Consider it a team bonding exercise." Pyrrha inserted as Weiss frowned. "So, Ren, how long have you known Nora?"

"We've been friends since childhood." A small smile crept onto Ren's face as Pyrrha nodded. While she was not on a team with either Jaune or Ruby, who seemed eager to be friends, it looked like she had a chance to make friends, especially since neither Ren nor Nora seem to treat her with any amount of awe. She just had to hope she was right that Weiss would tone it down. She could do this, even if she had not wanted the job. At least Weiss acted as though not getting the job was not the end of the world. Letting a small smile slip out, Pyrrha followed after her team, with Nora's complaints about slowpokes announcing her winning the uncontested race.

OoOoO

Ah, it was heaven, miles and miles of waffles to eat and no siblings to steal the perfectly topped food. As he dug in with his fork, he could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand up as he glanced around. There was someone coming for his waffles and he would not let them!

Jaune awoke as he pointed at one of his sisters to not do whatever she was looming to do… when he realized it was not in fact one of his sisters but instead his new teammate and partner, who had been startled and had fallen to the floor.

"Sorry, Ruby, I didn't mean to…" his apology dropped off as he noticed her holding in her left hand a whistle, "were you going to blow that in my ear?" Ruby winced before jumping to her feet and declaring,

"That doesn't matter now! Now that you are awake, team RABY can begin our first official mission."

"Huh?" Looking over, he noticed that both Blake and Yang were also wearing their uniforms. "We're not late to class are we?" Jumping up as he sees Ruby start to laugh while Yang stared at him.

"Class isn't for a while, so we should totally be decorating!"

"We still have to unpack." Blake opened her suitcase for emphasis, which caused everything to fall out at her feet. "And clean."

"She's right, team RABY led by their fearless leader Ruby has begun their first mission." Jaune scrambled to change before helping out as the four of them claim their own sections of the room. He had noticed that Blake hid a book in the bookcase, though it seemed likely it was one of the books one of his sisters read. If so, he was definitely not going to check or ever bring it up. They had looked so innocent when he read the title, but he started reading and… he grimaced while moving on to the rest of his stuff.

The only unfortunate part for the group was when they realized to fit everything in, they had to pile a couple of the beds in a corner.

"I think we might have just a small problem." Ruby commented as the rest of the group winced.

"Perhaps we should ditch some of our stuff…" Yang half-heartedly suggested.

Ruby started to grin as she commented, "Or we could ditch the beds…"

Jaune gasped as he added, "we could do bunk beds!" Turning to his leader, he beamed.

"That does seem efficient." Blake added as Yang gave a thumbs-up. Upon the agreement, the four of them worked on construction of the bunk beds. Upon finishing, they cheered at the haphazardly constructed beds, with one hanging from the ceiling while the other pair only supported by encyclopedias. It was the most use Jaune had ever gotten of them yet.

Meanwhile, team PRWN walked at a very sedate pace for Nora towards their first class. "May I say Pyrrha, that it was a great idea to set up the room yesterday." Weiss complimented.

"But we didn't make bunk beds!" Nora whined.

"We do not exactly have the proper materials for them, Nora, we would not want the beds to fall." Pyrrha reminded her as she harrumphed.

"Besides, we won't have had time for breakfast and I did not want to wake any other team up with our moving the beds around." Weiss replied as she had noticed that she had brought the most to unpack of her team. It was obvious that Pyrrha had the same problem she did, with people only wanting to talk to her because of her name, good or for bad. Especially that idiot Arc, she did not care if he was related to some war hero, couldn't he take a hint? Just after learning whom their teammates were, he had asked again. She thought she had been obvious about not seeing him that way. Though she would have to deal with him in class, hopefully he would not do anything stupid in there. At least she did not have to be on the same team, she smiled as they made it to class. Nora grabbed a row for them to sit as they looked over the information on the walls. The descriptions would be useful, though she did wonder why the man had a fake Grimm head on the wall. Anyone that knew anything knew that Grimm vanished completely when killed, leaving nothing to prove they existed. It might have to do with the whole no soul but then again, plants existed after being killed. Finishing her scan of the room, she pretended to ignore the team running in late as she had tried to pay attention to the Professor as he started to lecture. She had been right after all in that Ruby would have been a disaster as a leader. The only way it could have been worse would have been if she had gotten the idiot blond as a leader. She shuddered at the thought of team Jaune, as it would have been a waste of Pyrrha's and her abilities. While her two other teammates were a bit of an unknown, they had both done well in fighting the Nevermore. Miss Valkyrie's napping would be a bit of a concern, but her boyfriend's attentiveness eased that worry away. Perhaps he helped her with the more mental work while she helped him with the more physical work. At least her team leader was dutifully paying attention to the instructor, unlike Ruby. It would have been extremely infuriating to watch the young girl antics, such as deciding to show off a poorly drawn caricature of the professor, which in turn got her team in trouble again. Instead she had the best fighter of the year as a leader. A traitorous part of her brain commented that it still would not be good enough for her father, being second best, that she silenced quickly. The teacher had finished his speech while asking for someone who showed a true huntsman spirit and Weiss was tempted to elbow Nora awake, as she was sure it would be a Grimm in the box, but she used a grenade launcher. That would go horribly in the small area of the front of class. Pyrrha must have noticed her unease as she volunteered herself as she stood. Weiss frowned as team RABY beat her to cheering for her teammate, she joined in as Pyrrha smiled while moving into position, her shield and weapon ready. Professor Port slashed the lock off as a curved tusked, Grimm armored with bone on its face as it squealed before rolling at Pyrrha. Weiss smiled as she watched Pyrrha gracefully demolish the Grimm with careful precision. After its fourth pass, the monster found itself slaughtered by Miló as it squealed before starting to vanish like all vanquished Grimm did. Pyrrha smiled as Nora roared a cheer as Weiss jumped, as she didn't hear her teammate wake up. Either way, this was a team she could deal with.

"Well, that was a fun fight to watch," Ruby commented to her team as Yang grinned, Blake nodded and Jaune sheepishly smiled.

"Maybe I should have volunteered, but something about the Professor crept me out," Yang added as Blake grinned at her partner,

"Perhaps because he captured the Beowulf with his bare hands."

"He did say that, didn't he?" Jaune jumped on one of the few parts he caught in his drowsy listening of the lecture.

"The story was quite instructive on multiple techniques in defeating a Beowulf if unarmed." Ren interrupted as he received multiple stares for the comment.

"Wait, there was a point to that besides, blah, blah, blah?" Ruby questioned, eyes wide.

"Yep, and perhaps if you had a great leader like we do on team PRWN then perhaps you might have tried to pay attention better." Weiss explained as Yang glared at her.

"It was a long class, we should just relax and explore the area, we have some time before our next classes." Pyrrha interrupted before any arguments may have started as the others nodded as two teams separated. She let out a deep breath at the being able to handle the first major hurdle of being a leader. Perhaps she should talk to Weiss about her comments, but probably not in front of either Ren or Nora. Weiss seemed to be like quite a few in Mistral where public image was oh so very important. Which did not surprise her, as her father was the head of the Schnee Dust Company. Her thoughts were quickly interrupted as Nora rushed into her personal space, causing her to stop, otherwise she may have tripped and fallen on top of her.

"So, Pyrrha, how was fighting in the Mistral Regional Tournament? Was it tough like fighting the Nevermore? Was it as fun as fighting the Nevermore? Oh, do you get free Pumpkin Pete cereal for having your face on the box?" Nora finally paused for a breath as Ren smiled while Weiss's mouth was half open.

"It was a good challenge to fight in the tournament, the Nevermore was easier because I had you and team RABY to help, the tournament was more fun, and no." She answered in her media response voice. "Also, the cereal is not very healthy for you."

"Well, that would only matter if we didn't exercise it off." Nora retorted as Weiss smiled, she was right, Nora at least knew how much effort it would take for the food she ate. Did she eat so much to have an excuse for being so hyper?

OoOoO

Jaune grimaced as he watched Nora demolished Sky Lark in combat training, having taken only a glancing hit. He might have been able to keep up with Sky, though watching Professor Goodwitch discuss what he could have done better worried him. If Sky needed to be better, what would that say about him, would it be obvious that he faked his records? Professor Goodwitch turned back to the stands as she announced, "While we do not have time for any more match for today, the two competitors for the start of class Wednesday will be," glancing down at her scroll, "Weiss Schnee and Jaune Arc." He gulped as he turned towards her.

"Good luck to you, Snow Angel." He wore his best smile.

"I am so going to enjoy clobbering you Wednesday." Weiss cut back as he winced. She stood up as Pyrrha frowned at him and bowed before following after her teammate.

"It will be instructive to see a spar between you two," Ren added before nodding. Jaune waved as he turned to his team.

"You'll kick her butt, Jaune!"

"'Snow Angel' probably was a bad choice there." Yang commented as she patted Jaune's shoulder. Blake stayed quiet as the team stepped out of the training room.

"I'm going to go for run, keep in shape and stuff." Jaune explained as he jogged off.

"Good luck." Ruby waved as Blake frowned.

"He's not going to go easy on Weiss, is he?"

"What do you mean?"

"Actually, Rubes, I think he's worried." Yang stretched. "Hey, do you think I can get Goodwitch to let me fight with Pyrrha?"

"That would be so cool, then I get see even more of Miló."

"Isn't Crescent Rose going to get jealous of you?" Yang grabbed Ruby and ruffled her hair.

"Hey! I can like a lot of weapons, besides Crescent Rose is my favorite." Escaping her sister grip, Ruby crossed her arm in front of her.

"So, have you figured out what Jaune's weapon does yet?"

"The sheath transforms into a shield and back." She smiles before adding, "it's a classic."

"That could be useful, but I am not sure how it will help against Weiss's glyphs or dust," Blake commented as Ruby frowned.

"Also Weiss got to see it transform, then again, Jaune did get to see her use her glyphs, so he should have some ideas on what to do."

"He'll think of a plan." Blake encouraged as Ruby smiled.

"Though I think he has a good idea with the training." Yang added as they walked into an empty training room filled with weights and other machines.

Jaune ran as fast as he could at the edge of Beacon, his mind blanking on him. He would have to fight, Weiss, one of the cutest girls he had ever met. He did not know what went wrong after her complements about him the first day. After all, according to his dad if a woman liked you, you had to be confident, make them feel like you are worth her attention. Obviously it had worked for dad, so why didn't it work for him? Of course, the chances of impressing her with their fight was non-existent, all he had was a folding shield and she could shoot dust at him from range. Not to mention the glyphs she used. He would have to get close, but she could use those black glyphs to move quickly. Either way, he had to get faster by Wednesday so he can at least put on a good showing. He knew he could not win against her, since he did not have any tricks he could surprise her with. Perhaps he could ask his teammates…

No, he could not burden them with his problems, besides this was his chance to show he could do it. That he was strong enough to be a student at Beacon. He was Jaune Arc, welder of his ancestors' blade and shield, not some comedy for people to laugh at. He slowed and stopped as he looked around, exhausted from his running, he did not recognize where he was and it seemed that no one else was around. His concern grew as he reached for his scroll and realized that he had left it in his room when his team realized they were late this morning. His shoulders slumping, he started walking to the middle of campus, and perhaps he'll run into someone he knows or at least somewhere he recognized. Hopefully the next few days at Beacon would go better than the second day. He would have to keep an eye on Ruby, though, he was not going to suffer a sharp whistle in his ear again.

OoOoO

Weiss smiled to herself as she finished her preparations in the locker room. Today she could finally vent some frustrations at Jaune without complaints from the rest of his teammates, especially the other Blonde. If she did not know any better, the young woman had become very defensive of her team, though since their leader was her sister, she could see why. Especially since the young woman did not deserve the part, Blake would have been the best bet.

Upon finishing her preparations, she cycled the dust in her Myrtenaster as she started to walk out. She would not use the dust inside unless he used some himself. She doubted he could, as he had not used any while fighting the beowulves, but it could have been easy enough that he thought he did not need it. Though how could he have gotten into Beacon without using dust or an aura? She would not underestimate him, but she would win and show everyone. This was another step, an easy one, but another step. He couldn't be a combat monster, the idiotic fool screamed novice, but he made it in. She had to ensure everyone saw that her win was a certainty, like Pyrrha, otherwise, she wasn't worthy of being a Schnee. She stopped that train of thought before continued down it. She was going to make it through Beacon on her own, he just happened to be annoying and she was going to enjoy the spar. She noticed him standing at the ready, his sword lower than he should for fighting against a person. She glanced to the rest of the students standing on the ground from the raised battle area. Nora cheered with her arms waving above her head, Ren stood next to her and smiled while her team leader's probable cheers were covered by both Nora's and Ruby's. For such a short girl, she had a powerful set of lungs. Blake stared at her, giving away nothing but the last one's reaction was the one that left her happy. She was frowning at the oaf, it meant she knew that he was going to lose. She would be nice, she would definitely not use her dust. He might get lucky and land a hit. She gripped Myrtenaster in a ready position as she glanced at Professor Goodwitch.

"Miss Schnee, Mr. Arc, when you two are ready, you may begin." Weiss smirked at him as he charged at her, his sword raised to slam down at her. At least he was smart enough to close the distance, she waited until he started his swing to dodge slightly to the left as she landed a couple of strikes on his chest as he stumbled from the blows. She jumped back as he attempted to retaliate with a swing before catching him with another stab, forcing him back again. Her next attack he was able to block, though he had to keep himself planted to avoid not to get knocked back. She flipped back to his right as she jabbed him another five times before he is able to stumble back out of reach. She smirked at him as he stood panting, his aura dipping dangerously in the red. The ultimate insult was the fact she did not have to even use her glyphs. "Mr. Arc's aura has now fallen into the red, Miss Schnee has done an excellent job on demonstrating how to defeat someone with a shield. Mr. Arc, you will need to work on your reflexes if you wish to use a shield in battle. Not all Grimm will be as slow as the ones you fought during initiation." His shoulders slumped as Weiss smiled, there was no need to rub in his lost to him, he could not be that stupid. She looked to her teammates as Nora gave her two thumb-ups as Pyrrha smiled. She could comment about how Ruby should have helped him get better, but that would not be fair. He was just not at her level. At least now he would stop trying to date her just for her name. She found those that did hated having their ego punctured, especially by her.

* * *

Whelp, I setup a couple of things down the road. Also just a reminder, Jaune isn't exactly the best at this point and Weiss really wants to beat him, since no one will get mad at her for doing so, outside his teammates, she thinks. And if it stops him from hitting on her... She doesn't know Jaune does she. Let me know what you think and thanks to everyone that follow/favorited the story so far.


	3. Games and Planning

A/N: Well, I'm back with Chapter 3 and we are starting to diverge a bit from canon.

Disclaimer: I still do not own RWBY.

* * *

Yang stared out at the utter destruction, no the slaughter she had just experienced. It had been such a simple suggestion, and it had turned into this. She scowled as Blake had been the first to fall, and there was nothing she could do to save herself. The worst was that Ruby would not be spared the devastation, as a couple of unlucky breaks foiled her chances. The final insult was the monster that had orchestrated this was just staring at her with wide eyes.

"Is there something wrong Yang?" Jaune questioned as he glanced back down at the board as Ruby finished her turn attempting to salvage what was left of her defenses of Atlas.

"Only one of us can win." Blake replied, her eyes not leaving the book she had buried herself in after Jaune had conquered Vacuo. It had been at that point that Yang realized that she had underestimated Vomit-Boy as Ruby and her had went from attempting to snatching victory from each other to trying to stop the Vale juggernaut.

"Sis, I told you that you should have attacked Jaune five turns ago instead of trying to wipe out Blake's forces in Vacuo." Ruby added as Jaune started to ponder his turn.

"I thought he would have been distracted dealing with your ambush." Yang replied.

"She doesn't lose often, does she?" Blake questioned as she turned a page.

"Not really, she's also really lucky." Ruby explained as Yang groaned when Jaune's flying fleet breached her outer defenses, as she had to rely on her dice to survive a turn. She might still have a chance if her victory cards would give her something powerful.

"I thought you said you never have won playing this game?" Yang accused as her dice clattered on the board as she groaned, she didn't need a two, she needed a twelve.

"Well, my sisters would usually gang up on me." He replied as he gathered his victory cards, Ruby puffed up her cheeks as she squatted to get a better view of the board. "And I didn't want you to do the same."

"So, how many sisters do you have?" Yang played with her hair

"Seven, I'm the youngest." Jaune responded as Ruby's eyes widened as Yang whistled.

"That is a lot of kids." Blake looked up from her book and stared at Jaune.

"Well, my parents really like kids."

"Then they had you." Yang commented with a sly grin as Jaune chuckled.

"Perhaps some time when your family is in town we can meet them." Jaune flinched at Ruby's suggestion as Blake jumped in. Yang added it to the list of uncomfortable topics for Jaune.

"Did the forces of Vale conquer the world yet?" Ruby sighed as she launched her probable final attack as she attempted to steal a more defensive position. She groaned as the dice fell, ensuring her loss.

OoOoO

"So, Nora, did you finish the writing assignment for Professor Peach?" Weiss questioned.

"Of course I did, I'm not missing Pancake Night tonight." She stared at her in annoyance before turning her gaze back to the battle below. Pyrrha attempted to smile while she focused on watching Jaune attempting to keep up with Sky Lark. Ever since his first battle with Weiss, Jaune had been mostly fighting against members of team CRDL. Fortunately for him, none of them were individually as a good a fighter as Weiss, but he still had quite a bit of wasted movements in his strikes. He also did not shield himself properly, if he adjusted how he held his shield, it would make it easier to attack and defend. Perhaps she should say something, but…

He had his own team, they must be talking to him about it. Besides, Ruby would probably not appreciate it if she tried to interfere with her team.

She turned to Ren, who was examining his weapons for any potential damage from his match with Yang. "Should we tell Nora that I will be baking the pancakes?"

"We don't want her thinking that it will taste similar to Weiss's attempt," Ren explained as Pyrrha glanced over at Weiss, who fortunately was not paying attention to them.

"It was a good attempt." Ren grimaced as he glanced at their teammate.

"Perhaps." Ren hedged. "Are you sure you will have adequate time after your leadership class? If not I could make them."

"It will be no problem." She smiled as Miss Goodwitch called for the end of the match. "Besides, I have not had a chance to bake a meal recently." It would be nice to do something she wanted to do, without wondering who it would offend. Unless Nora required perfection with her pancakes, but she seemed nice enough. Also, she should probably talk to Weiss about handling Jaune, but she hasn't asked for help, so she probably does not want it. Perhaps she would get lucky and they would have time to ask questions in class. If it was not Professor Port teaching the class, that is. The teachers had been helpful in giving advice when asked. She grimaced as Sky Lark beat Jaune, though at least he was able to bring him down into the yellow for once. If he had fought Cardin, he probably would not have hit him more than once. She grimaces as he stared at the ground. He could be better, he just needed a bit of help. Perhaps she should just reach out and... no, Ruby would be able to figure it out, she was made leader for a reason.

"So, Pyrrha, are you ready for Leadership class?" Ruby grabbed her attention as she nodded and smiled. The only good news about the situation was that Ruby treated her just like one of the other leaders. No pedestal here. The two young women waved at their teammates as they left, Cardin taking a while to gather his gear which surprised her. However, she would rather not talk about him with Ruby, so she quickly filled the silence with a question.

"How is team RABY going?"

"Good, though I think I might suggest a weekend out for the team. Both Blake and Jaune have not been in Vale very often and Yang knows the best places to go. Her words, not mine." Ruby stretched as Pyrrha smiled. "How is your team doing?"

"We are getting along fine, it helps that Weiss is willing to help keep us ahead on classes." It made it easier that Weiss had decided to make sure the team would be the best of the year in grades. Though she did not want to feel like she was bragging. She did not want to lose Ruby as a friend, as unlike her former acquaintances, she was not scared off by her fame. The worse she could see would be her friend accidentally forgetting to return Mil・. She also did not want to seem like she was rubbing it in that team RABY was barely getting their homework in on time. At least twice they were running into class with their just completed homework.

"I just can't wait until we can actually go out into the Forest again." Ruby explained as she reach back and patted down Crescent Rose. Pyrrha beamed. Ruby was very excitable, and even with Jaune lowering their score, team RABY barely held onto first in the rankings for combat. Weiss was a bit annoyed at that, but the team could fight. She took a deep breath as she kept her smile on her face, this was one class where she wished she could have either Weiss or Ren take it for her. Nora would not appreciate the class, even if some of her ideas would have been interesting to hear. Though she had a feeling that Professor Goodwitch would veto her idea for pancake day.

"Hey, cheer up, it won't be Professor Port this time! I asked Professor Goodwitch this morning and she said she would be teaching today," Ruby informed her with a pat on the back. "Hopefully she won't give us too much homework, I'm glad that she can't give us any homework in combat class."

"I am sure that today's class will be very educational." She reached the door first and opened it to let Ruby enter. Looking at her friend, she watched as Ruby's jaw fell as her eyes widened.

"AH, Excellent! You two are the first to arrive."

"Oh, Professor Port, I thought that Professor Goodwitch was supposed to be teaching today?" Pyrrha questioned as she saw his mustache twitch.

"That is correct, however, she had an unexpected problem come up, so I graciously volunteered to cover for her." He smiled. "Since you are the first today, Ruby, you get to help demonstrate for the class."

"No..." Ruby squeaked out as all of her enthusiasm drained out her. Pyrrha covered her mouth to hide her grin, glad she had not been the one selected.

OoOoO

Jaune grunted as he worked at trying to get his shield unstuck from the door-frame, as the only thing good about the situation was no one, especially his teammates weren't here to see him. It was bad enough that he was the weakest fighter of his team, he could barely fight. Ever since he got to Beacon, he had to be helped or rescued, starting with getting pinned to the tree. Then with the big fight with the Nevermore, all he could do was stand there and watch his teammates and take it down without help. Now, he could not even deal with a simple bully. If his team saw this and the shoves from Cardin, they would try to protect him, like he was some child. Shaking his head, he finally got the shield dislodged and shrunk down to being a sheath. At least he did not fumble it. He would have to do this on his own, even though he snuck into Beacon. He would just have to leave before Cardin did next time. He would get stronger, after all, he could beat Beowolves on his own. His stomach grumbled at him as he rubbed his face. After taking a deep breath, he rushed to the cafeteria. Perhaps he could just join Blake and eat quietly while she read a book. Sure Yang might be there, but she usually waited for Ruby's class to finish.

He smiled as he saw Blake sitting by herself, a book held as she ate her tuna sandwich. It seemed that Team PRWN had already eaten or had another meal in their room. While it would have been cool to have a team meal, it required them to actually have room. He wished that sometimes his team did not bring what seemed like everything they own to Beacon.

"Hey, Blake." He waved as he entered her peripheral vision. He remembered how Jade would give him the stink-eye for sneaking up on her when she read.

"Jaune." He gave her a small smile as he plopped down across from her as he started on his dinner. He wondered if her hobby contributed to her enjoyment of sandwiches, tuna especially. Glancing at the book title, he let out a sigh, it was not a particular book she had. He remember when he started reading one of Olivia's books that did interesting thing with one of his favorite meals. He still would not eat it, much to his mother's confusion. He wondered if he should mention to Blake he stumbled over guilty pleasure. Of course, that would require him to acknowledge it existed. His cheeks flushed as he dived into his food quicker.

"Something wrong, Jaune?"

"Nothing, I am not thinking about a certain book you hide in our room." He flinched as he realized what he said. She quickly blushed as she nearly dropped the book.

"How did you know?" She recovered and glared at him, huh her bow moved, not important to the situation.

"I accidentally pulled it out when I was looking for one of my books for class that I misplaced. I haven't said anything to anyone else." He grimaced as he hoped he could stop digging himself into a hole.

"Good." Blake picked up her book as she finished eating and she started walking away. Jaune sighed as he noticed that she was able to avoid running into people. He wondered when he could get good enough to do that himself. At least he did not continue to have Blake mad at him, it was bad enough to have the sister stuck in the same room as you, but possibility forcing Ruby and Yang to take a side...

Distracting himself from his thought, he looked around and saw that team PRWN walking in and delivering dirty dishes. While watching Weiss lead their conversation, he sighed. Normally, he would be rushing over to compliment her and ask her out, but today with how he did in class, and with how Cardin could just walk all over him, he could not pull off the confidence needed. He would just have to do better tomorrow is all. This meant he should probably get to work on his homework, he really did not need the threat of late work to add to his problems.

OoOoO

Weiss was having another wonderful day, it would be nearly perfect if only two things changed, one the buffoon would stop asking her out and if they would not have Port's class. What made today even better, she did not have to interaction with Mr. Arc more than acknowledging his presence when the two teams sat together at lunch. Bringing her daydreams back to reality, she smirked. As expected from her team, they were top of the class in grades. She would have been terrified to be like team RABY, almost always late to class and barely getting their homework done on time. Pyrrha on the other hand, was showing that she could lead, helping her teammates succeed, and setting a great example. Closing the report on her scroll she smiled at Pyrrha, "Perfect job as expected from our team leader, Pyrrha."

"Yep, I have never done this well at classes before. I hope I get to fight Yang tomorrow." Nora gushed while tossing her work into her folder. Ren nodded as Pyrrha let a small smile grace her face. Now if only she could take a compliment better.

"I was thinking perhaps this weekend we can go out and look around Vale." Pyrrha suggested as she sat down on her bed.

"That sounds like a splendid idea Pyrrha, do you have any ideas where?"

"We should probably go to a dust shop, I want to try something with Magnhild!" Nora exclaimed as Ren sighed.

"This won't blow up our room, would it?" Weiss questioned as Nora stuck her tongue at her. "Hey, I was asking a serious question," she responded while glaring.

"Nora wouldn't try anything dangerous in our room." Ren attempted to mediate as he leaned forward in his chair.

"She stuck a fork into the wall stock just yesterday!" Nora rolled her eyes as Pyrrha stood up.

"My semblance lets me absorb electricity, I was powering up for combat class, duh," Nora retorted before rolling her eyes.

"Perhaps next time you can let us know why you are doing it," Pyrrha suggested before plastering a fake smile on her face. Though, Weiss doubted that Nora would notice the difference.

"I agree, I was afraid you were going to hurt yourself." Weiss added as she tried to keep from glaring. Just because she acted childish, she was not Ruby, or Jaune. Also, she should not be defying her team leader like that.

"Right, next time I try to charge my semblance, I will let you know."

"That would be acceptable." Weiss conceded, "so, changing topics, how soon do you think it will be until we are the best in combat class?" Pyrrha fake smile slipped off into a grimace, perhaps she wished they had the top ranking already?

"Well, Jauney is the weak point of the team, but Yang, Blake, and Ruby are really strong, I don't know if we could beat them."

"It would be a close fight." Ren added as he started folding his laundry.

"If the buffoon continues to flounder like he has, I do not think he will stall whoever he fights long enough for us to take advantage of the 4 on 3."

"You know, Weiss, he might surprise you," Pryhha suggested as she attempted to keep a straight face.

"So far, the only time he has contributed successfully was fighting the Beowolves."

"If he has been trained to fight only Grimm, his fighting style would have to change to fight other hunters," Ren supplied. Weiss did not respond as she opened her scroll to compose a message to her father. At least neither Ruby nor Jaune were her team leader, there would be no way that she could convince him that it was acceptable that she was not leader of the team.

OoOoO

Ruby walked down the corridor as she finally finished maintenance on Crescent Rose. She doubted she would need her when the team went to visit Vale this weekend, however, as her uncle taught her, she never missed routine maintenance unless an emergency came up. Hmmm, she opened her scrolled and tried dialing Qrow, unfortunately, the scroll went straight to his voice mail. Perhaps he was on a mission, which would mean another carefully edited story, though with her dad not being at Beacon, she might actually get more of the whole story. Her cheeks puffed out as she still could not believe that both her dad and Yang still tried to treat her like a child. Oh well, she just had to show them that she could handle being a leader.

She scowled as she reached her room as she heard Weiss's raised voice. The heiress had seemed to take personal offense with team RABY since after initiation. They had killed a Giant Nevermore together, with her awesome plan. They should at least be able to be friendly with each other. Sure Jaune might ask her out a bit too often, but then again he had not done it for a while. Still, she did not need to be so rude, it was not like Yang or Blake caused her any problems. She took another breath, no need to let her annoyance ruin planning for the weekend. Opening her door, she found only Blake sitting there, reading one of her many books.

"Hey, Blake."

"Ruby," she responded without looking up from her book.

"So, I was thinking that this weekend would be a great time for all of us as a team go to Vale and hang out together." She grinned as Blake slowly lowered her book as the girl sighed.

"Fine." Her opinion made, she went back to reading her book as Ruby muttered about someone being grumpy. The door squeaked open as Jaune stumbled in.

"Hey Ruby, Blake." Ruby frowned as he shuffled over and flopped onto the bed.

"Are you alright, Jaune?" Ruby wondered as Blake paused yet again in her reading.

"Just tired from practicing, so how did leadership class go?"

"Ugh! We had Professor Port leading the class and I had to help demonstrate." Jaune winced as Ruby shook her head before beaming, "but I did have an awesome idea for team RABY this weekend." She paused as Jaune sat up and waited for her to finish, "We are going to hang out together in Vale!"

"That would be fun. Though, we might want to get our homework done for the weekend, I don't think I will be up to working on it after the bullhead ride." Jaune grimaced.

"I think that is a great idea," Blake jumped in as she placed a bookmark in her book before placing back into the bookcase. Ruby rushed over to her school books as she announced,

"Very well, team RABY will begin its last mission for today, finishing the weekend homework tonight." After all, the only class that may give homework tomorrow is Professor Port, and as he never assigned any for the weekend, they would be fine. Shifting her books into one hand, Ruby pulled out her scroll and called Yang. After a few rings, Yang finally answered,

"Hey sis."

"Yang, so we're planning to go visit Vale this weekend, so to make sure we have as much time as possible, we are going to the library to get our homework done tonight." Yang glanced away from the scroll and then smiled.

"Well, it wasn't how I was planning to spend the evening, but I'll see you three there." Oh good, she was afraid she might have to order her sister to join them. It would not be good if she had insubordination from a family member. That might mean Jaune and Blake might not respect her as a leader. Now she just needed to finish homework and get through classes tomorrow. After that, perhaps she should make a binder for their activities?

* * *

A/N: Thank you for reading and let me know what you think.


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